Tobacco processing system and method

ABSTRACT

Mechanism is provided for sequentially defoliating tobacco leaves; transporting the defoliated leaves through first and second leaf cutters; and transporting the cut leaves to bulk tobacco storage or treatment containers; and the system may include an oscillating distributor to provide uniform distribution of the cut tobacco in the storage or treatment containers.

United States Patent Johnson 1 May 27, 1975 [5 TOBACCO PROCESSING SYSTEM AND 2,870,839 1/1959 Duane 83/408 x METHOD 2,940.615 6/1960 Long et a] 56/275 x 3.l28,775 4/1964 Elssmann 13I/146 [75] In entor: w lllam Joh son. Ra eigh, NO 3217988 11/1965 Lightfoot et a1 83/356.1

1 1 44 m1 222225; 151211 322252: a ?,14 3.731.475 5 1973 Balthes 56/275 [22] Filed: Feb. 13, 1973 Primary Examiner-Robert W. Michell [2 1] Appl 332310 Assistant Examiner-John F. Pitrelli Attorney, Agent, or FirmHarold L. Stowe]! [52] US. Cl. 56127.5; 83/408; 131/145;

2 /101.7 [57] ABSTRACT [51] Int. Cl A0ld 45/16 Mechanism is provided for sequentially defoliating [58] Field of Search 131/145, 146,149; b l t th d f t d 1 56/275 241/10 7' 83/408 422 356 357 acco eaves, ranspor mg e e 01a e eat es through first and second leaf cutters; and transportlng the cut leaves to bulk tobacco storage or treatment [56] References cued containers; and the system may include an oscillating UNITED STATES PATENTS distributor to provide uniform distribution of the cut 2,477,794 8/1949 Geh] 241/1017 X tobacco in the storage or treatment containers. 2,808,884 10/1957 Shann et a1 4 83/422 X I 2,847,811 8/1958 Martin et a1. 241/1017 x 10 Clalms 25 Drawmg Flgul'es PATENTEU MAY 27 I975 SHEET 0 1 BF 1 7 FIG. 2.

FATENTEDHAY 2? ms SHEET DEBF 17 PATENTEUHAYZT I975 8 5,376

SHEET on 8? 17 FIG. 5.

F/GI 6.

PATENTEDHAYZ'I :915

SHEET C5 [1? 17 IKE TOBACCO PROCESSING SYSTEM AND METHOD Related subject matter is disclosed and claimed in my co-pending US. Pat. application Ser. No. 288,028 filed Sept. ll, 1972.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Operations that must be performed in a flue-cured tobacco harvesting and curing system are: l harvesting ripe tobacco leaves, (2) preparing tobacco for curing, (3) loading the curing facility. (4) curing and conditioning, (5) unloading the cured tobacco, and (6) leaf preparation for marketing.

Traditionally these operations have been done manually with correspondingly high labor requirements. During the past two decades. several advances have been made which have substantially reduced labor requirements, and hence a number of harvesting and cur ing systems have evolved. The conventional hand harvest, hand stringing and conventional curing system re quires approximately 250 man-hrs/acre; for example in man-hrs/acre, priming, 44.3; hauling, l8.5; handing and stringing, I090; loading barn, l8.3; curing, 6.7; removing from barn, l 1.6; and looses-leaf preparation for market, 412.

In their Economics Information Report Alternative Tobacco Harvesting and Curing Systems for the North Carolina Coastal Plains", EIR-IZ, Dept. of Economics, N.C. State University, October, I969, Davis and Chappell presented comparative labor requirements for various harvesting and curing systems, including market preparation. Hand harvest and use of an automatic tying machine at the curing barn reduced labor to l77.3 man-hrs. The use of tractor-drawn or selfpropelled harvesting aides which carried the primers through the field gave labor estimates of from about I77 to 191 man-hrs or about the same as the hand har vest tying machine system. Hand harvest with walking primers and bulk racking for bulk curing gave an estimated l25.9 man-hrs. The use of a harvesting aide which permitted field racking reduced this slightly to l22.7 man-hrs. The use of a mechanical harvester for the removal of leaves from the plant in conjunction with bulk curing further reduced labor to 89.8 man hrs/acre. Of this amount, 42.9 man-hrs were required for harvesting, preparing tobacco for curing, and loading the curing facility; 6.7 man-hrs were required for curing; and 40.2 man-hrs were required for removal from the curing facility and looseleaf preparation for marketing.

A major problem which exists today for the current mechanical harvesting-bulk curing system is the enormous materials-handlng problem. Consider, for example the typical operation in which a harvester moves through the field, straddling two rows, and defoliates leaves from one row. The defoliators enter the canopy of leaves and remove, by their rotating action, from about three to six leaves per plant and normally, three to six harvests are required over a 6-week period to harvest all leaves. After defoliation, the leaves are conveyed to the top of the harvester and deposited into a bin or containers which are periodically taken to the curing barns. There it is necessary to remove the tobacco by hand from the containers and place it into bulk racks in preparation for curing. Manual placement of the random interlaced leaves into proper position for racking is laborious and time-consuming, requiring a crew of three to six people per harvester. In addition,

there is considerable labor required for moving racks into and out of the bulk curing barn, unloading racks of cured leaf, and sheeting tobacco for market. A harvester, operating at capacity, can now harvest up to 30,000 pounds of uncured leaf per day This requires hand racking of about 240 racks or two large bulk barns per day. For a 50 acre operation, at least 3500- 4500 man-hours are still required in harvesting, curing, and market preparation.

My co-pending US. patent application Ser. No. 288,028, Modular Tobacco Handling and Curing System, describes a new and improved system which materially simplifies certain aspects of the materials han dling problems of harvesting and curing. The system provides for the handling and curing of large batches of tobacco in special curing containers, or modules, each of which may hold up to, for example, 1500 or more pounds of tobacco. The modules may be filled with either intact or cut strip tobacco; and the tobacco, after placement into the module, is not physically handled until after curing. Furthermore, the modules are de signed for mechanized handling and rapid unloading.

THE PRESENT INVENTION The present invention relates to new and improved harvesting-handling systems which permit complete mechanical handling of tobacco directly into the curing module, without physically handling the tobacco itself. Studies on the filling of modules with both intact and cut-strip tobacco have indicated distinct advantages to the use of cut strips for conveying and to uniform filling of modules. Intact leaves, because of their size and shape, can not be easily handled through distribution equipment for completely mechanized filling of containers. Also uncut leaves pose problems in the filling of corners, and because of folding or lodging during free fall, create areas which are more difficult to dry during curing.

OBJECTS OF THE PRESENT INVENTION To provide a mechanized harvesting-handled system which enables direct, uniform placement of cut strip tobacco into curing modules holding up to, for example, I500 or more pounds of tobacco.

To provide a harvesting-handling system whereby tobacco leaves are defoliated on a mechanical harvester; conveyed through longitudinal and transverse cutting equipment to produce approximately rectangular strips and which are further conveyed through an oscillating distributor directly into a curing module.

To provide a harvesting-handling system whereby tobacco leaves are defoliated on a mechanical harvester; conveyed through longitudinal and transverse cutting equipment to produce approximately rectangular strips, which are conveyed to a holding container on the harvester; further to provide fur unloading of the container to a transport trailer which carries the cutstrip tobacco to the curing facility; unloading of the transport trailer to a conveyor and oscillating distributor which places the cut-strip uniformly into the module at the curing site.

To provide a harvesting-handling system whereby intact leaves carried to the curing facility are mechanically conveyed through longitudinal and transverse cutting equipment and the cut strips are further conveyed to and through an oscillating distributor into a curing module.

To provide a harvesting-handling system whereby tobacco leaves stripped by a harvester are conveyed to a cutting-distribution apparatus on a trailer connected to the harvester for direct placement of cut-strip tobacco into a curing module.

To provide longitudinal and transverse cutting means which produce approximately rectangular pieces of tobacco with minimal bruising or edge effect from the cutting action.

To provide a distribution means for cut-strip tobacco which enables uniform placement of the material into a caring module in a completely mechanized operation.

To provide a means for mechanical pressing tobacco into the curing module to achieve a more uniform density distribution, which serves to provide more uniform drying during curing, and to increase capacity per mod ule.

To provide a completely mechanized harvesting and handling system, which used in conjunction with modular curing, reduces hand labor, provides improved product uniformity, and ultimately reduces the cost of tobacco production.

These and other Ol'Jjn and advantages will become apparent to those SkIllt .n the art from the following discussions of the inventlm in detail.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION FIG. I is a side elevation view of one embodiment of the harvester of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the harvester of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a front elevation view of the harvester of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a rear elevation view of the harvester of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken through lines 55 of FIG. 1 showing the defoliating and initial conveying mechanisms;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken through lines 6-6 of FIG. 2 illustrating the drive and lifting means for the defoliator mechanism;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged side elevation view of the leaf cutting mechanism of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a sectional view taken through lines 88 of FIG. 7 illustrating more completely the cutting mechanism;

FIG. 9 is a sectional view taken through lines 99 of FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a sectional view taken through lines 10-10 of FIG. 9 illustrating more specifically the disc cutters of the cutting mechanism;

FIG. I] is a sectional view taken through lines I l '11 of FIG. 9 illustrating the drive roller for parallel belts which feed tobacco into the cutting mechanism;

FIG. 12 is a side elevation view of the press apparatus of the present invention for pressing the cut-strip tobacco into the curing module;

FIG. 13 is an end elevation view of the press apparatus of FIG. 12;

FIG. 14 is a top plan view of the press apparatus of FlG. 12'.

FIG. I5 is a side elevation view of a second embodiment of the harvester of other present invention;

FIG. I6 is a rear elevation view of the harvester of P10. 15;

FIG. 17 is a side elevation view of a portion of the harvester of FIG. 15 illustrating unloading of cut-strip tobacco into a transport trailer;

FIG. 18 is a side elevation view of conveying, distribution. and press apparatus at the curing facility for mechanized filling of the module;

FIG. I9 is a top plan view of the apparatus of FIG. 18;

FIG. 20 is a side elevation view of a mechanical harvester which elevates harvested leaves to a bin for rapid unloading;

FIG. 2] is a side elevation view of handling apparatus of the present invention illustrating operations performed at the curing facility;

FIG. 22 is a top plan view of the handling apparatus of FIG. 21;

FIG. 23 is a side elevation view of a harvester portion and side-connected trailer for performing operations of the present invention;

FIG. 24 is a front elevation view of the apparatus of FIG. 23; and

FIG. 25 is a top plan view of the apparatus of FIG. 23.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION As hereinbefore set forth, this invention relates to new or improved harvesting and handling systems for tobacco which permit direct. uniform preparation and loading of cut-strip tobacco into curing modules holding relatively large quantitiets of tobacco. The essential processing steps include (A) harvesting leaves; (8) conveying or transporting of harvested leaves through longitudinal and transverse cutting equipment, (C) conveying or transporting the cut strips to and through an oscillating distributor for uniform placement into a curing module and (D) pressing the tobacco strips into the curing module to achieve grater uniformity of bulk density throughout the module and to increase loading capacity. After pressing, the modules are capped, lifted mechanically and rotated by to position the laminae in a generally vertical plane and positioned onto a plenum for curing as more fully set forth in my application Ser. No. 288,028.

Four harvestinghandling systems are described below which illustrate alternative ways of carrying out the operational sequence.

Referring to particularly to FIGS. 1 through 4 the machine A as depicted is powered by a gasoline engine 10 which is mounted on the upper structural frame I2 of the harvester. The motor in turn drives a hydraulic unit 14 which supplies hydraulic fluid under pressure to various hydraulic motors, cylinders, etc. to be more fully described hereinafter. Supply lines 16 are controlled by means of hydraulic levers 18 on the drivers panel 20.

Front vertical frame support members 22 support the upper deck members while providing means for steering the machine. Front wheels 24 are suitably mounted on the front support members 22, and steering is accomplished by rotation of the wheel yoke or support frame 26 which is connected through supports 22 to a hydraulic cylinder 28 located on the top of the bar vester. Connecting rods 30 and 32 transmit power from the cylinder 28 through shafts 34 journaled through the vertical frame members 22.

The rear wheels 36 are journaled for rotation and connected to the rear frame supports 38 which provide a sturdy mounting support 40 for the wheels. The rear wheels are driven by two hydraulic motors 42, the speed of which are regulated by the driver and generally providing ground speeds up to 6 mph under field operating conditions. 

1. A tobacco processing machine comprising a tobacco leaf defoliating means; means for transporting the defoliated leaves from said leaf defoliating means to an elevated position, first and second leaf cutters, means mounting said first and second leaf cutters in structural association with said leaf transporting means for cutting the leaves along mutually perpendicular planes as said defoliated leaves are being transported; and means for directing the cut leaves to bulk container filling means.
 2. The tobacco processing machine as defined in claim 1, including an oscillating distributor at said bulk container filling means to provide uniform distribution of the cut tobacco in the bulk container.
 3. The tobacco processing machine as defined in claim 2, wherein the bulk container comprises a tobacco curing module.
 4. The tobacco processing machine as defined in claim 3 including a container filling sleeve having its lower end connected to the open end of the curing module.
 5. The tobacco processing machine as defined in claim 4 including means for pressing the tobacco in said sleeve into the curing module.
 6. The tobacco processing machine as defined in claim 1, wherein the first leaf cutter comprises a plurality of spaced side-by-side disc cutters and said second leaf cutter comprises a rotating blade knife.
 7. The invention defined in claim 1 wherein the means for transporting the defoliated leaves through the first and second leaf cutters comprise conveyor flights.
 8. The invention defined in claim 7, including leaf pressing means for holding the leaves to the surface of the conveyor flights of the transporting means for the defoliated leaves.
 9. The tobacco processing machine as defined in claim 1, wherein bulk container at the bulk container filling means comprises a temporary cut tobacco holding means.
 10. The tobacco processing machine as defined in claim 1, wherein any one of the transporting means includes bulk tobacco transporting means. 